Tagged: Providence Student Union

Members of the student advocacy group Providence Student Union have issued an apology to Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist for making comments about her reputation. The students said they regretted the tone of a press release that said they planned to mourn the “expected ‘death’ of Commissioner Gist’s reputation.”

The comments came after Gist refused the group’s invitation of a public debate about the state’s use of standardized test scores. The Providence Student Union called it a mistake to make the issue personal.

Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist urged lawmakers to pass a series of bills aimed at improving school safety in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting during her State of Education speech on Tuesday. She also urged passage of the governor’s budget which increases funding for public schools, colleges and universities.

NECAP, the standardized test that’s become a requirement for high school graduation in Rhode Island, may be harder than most people think. A majority of adults who took a portion of the math test last weekend failed to make the grade.

Students protest high stakes testing in Rhode Island and Providence puts a history teacher in a physics classroom. These are some of the most heated controversies recently on the education beat. But there’s a little known force behind both of these stories. It’s a student group called the Providence Student Union. Co-founder Aaron Regunberg is a recent Brown graduate. Elisabeth Harrison asked him how he became an activist in the public schools.